Jones served as member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1804 to 1809, and as privy councilor of Virginia from 1809 to 1811, when he resigned. He served in the War of 1812 as director general of hospital and medical stores. He returned to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1818.

Jones again became a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1827 to 1829, and subsequently resumed agricultural pursuits. He died at his home, "Mountain Hall," near Nottoway, Virginia, April 25, 1848. He was interred in the family burying ground on his estate.[2]